Publication Policies and Procedures for Diogenes

The Diogenes International Board follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for guidance on policies and procedures related to publication ethics. The policies listed below have been adopted in order to:

-  Define the relationship between publisher, editor and the interested parties

-  Respect privacy (of researchers, authors and peer reviewers)

-  Protect intellectual property and copyright

-  Ensure editorial independence

Contents

1.     Privacy Statement

2.     Series topics of interest

3.     Originality and Prior Publication

4.     Authorship and Contributions

5.     Peer Review

6.     Technical requirements for manuscripts

7.     Data Sharing Policy (Copyright, Re-use, and Public Access)

8.     Corrections and Retractions

9.     Conflict of Interest/ Scientific Misconduct

10.  Questions and responses

1.Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in Diogenes Series and its official correspondence will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of the Series and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

The editors of Diogenes are required to agree to the following statement regarding editorial content:

“As a member of the editorial team of Diogenes Series, I agree to keep confidential the content of accepted submissions until publication. I also agree to respect the privacy and intellectual property rights of authors who submit material to the Series.”

2.Series Topics of Interest

Diogenes is a Series for innovative studies in the field of philosophy and psychology. Each year there are two issues: one, devoted to philosophical and one to psychological topics. Each issue has an additional subject, which is chosen by the editorial board members.

Diogenes is a community in which the inherent dignity of all persons is acknowledged and valued. The editors will make sure that, in communicating differences of opinion, the dialogue between contributors, commenters, and readers is conducted in a manner consonant with the ethical principles of academic communication. The main ethic principles for evaluation of submissions in this context are:

·       argue with ideas, not with persons

·       respect the expertise and shared commitment

·       contributions must be shaped as a constructive criticism not in a negative manner

Expressions of prejudice, including racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and transphobia etc .  are unacceptable and will not be allowed in the series.

3.Originality and Prior Publication

Diogenes Series publishes only original work that has not been previously published. All authors of manuscripts submitted to Diogenes Series must attest that neither the manuscript nor any part of it, regardless of its language, has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere. At the time of submission authors should note whether the content of the manuscript has been previously presented or published. Any reference to or use of previously published material protected by copyright must be explicitly acknowledged in the manuscript.

4.Authorship and Contributions

Authors are required to list all the contributors who meet the following conditions:

1.     Have made substantial contributions to prior research stages or to the final manuscript

2.     Have contributed to the writing or the editing of draft versions of the manuscript

When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and identify all individual authors. All authors must take responsibility for the accuracy of the manuscript, and one or more authors, such as the corresponding or lead author, must take responsibility for the work as a whole.

5.Peer Review

All manuscripts in Diogenes are accepted under the conditions of a deadline establishment for each issue (two issues per year). Diogenes employs double-blinded review process: authors are blinded to the identities of the reviewers of their manuscripts and vice versa. Original Articles, Brief Reports and Review Articles, and Supplemental Articles are invited for peer review by the editors.

The Editor-in-Chief assesses each submission to the series to determine whether the subject and the content of the manuscript are appropriate for the series. Each manuscript that meets the Scope of Relevance and the ethical guidelines as stated above in article 2 will be further considered for peer review. The Associate Editor will examine whether the selected manuscripts meet the technical requirements. The ones that do not meet these requirements will be returned for correction or removed from the selection process if the established deadline for paper submission is due.

The editors invite expert researchers to peer review the selected manuscripts. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for determining and conveying the final decision on all manuscripts. The Editor-in-Chief may consult with Advisory Board members if there is significant divergence of opinion among the Associate Editors and/or the peer reviewers on how a manuscript should be decided. All correspondence related to the peer review of each manuscript is confidential.

Reviewers are appointed to each particular manuscript according to their expertise, reputation, specific experience, and their previous reviewer record. The Advisory Board is responsible for the constant update of the series reviewer database.

The Series Diogenes confines into the best academic practices, and considers the publishing of articles to be a creative process of collaboration between the author, the reviewers and the editors. The purpose of the peer review is to evaluate the academic quality of the manuscripts suggested for publishing. Constructive criticism is a necessary part of this process, so it should be conducted in a professional and respectful manner. The peer reviewers are asked to submit their reviews with conclusion and recommendations to the editors. If it is necessary, the reviewers may decide to make their comments inside the text using the option “track changes”.

Reviewers are asked to evaluate whether the manuscript meets the following conditions:

I.Section 1: Scientific content

Topic relevance

Topicality

Originality

Relevant and up-to-date references

Sound methodology

Significance of Results

Argumentative adequacy

II.Section 2: Quality of Manuscript

The abstract clearly presents the content

The topic is well introduced

Well-presented former contributions

Well –defined methodology

Structure of writing

Clearness of thesis

Organization and adequacy of cited literature

Clear academic style of writing

Manuscript length

Different criteria are quantified by measurement form 0 to 5, where 0 is poor and 5 is excellent. Manuscripts are subject to four conclusions:

1.     Approved for publishing without further corrections (when all criteria in both sections score 3 or higher )

2.     Approved for publishing with minor corrections that are not due to another review (when no more than one criterion in section 1 and/or no more than two in section 2 score below 3, but not 0)

3.     Approved under the condition of sufficient changes in response to given recommendations, subject to another review. (when no more than two criteria in section 1 and/or no more than three in section 2 score below 3, but not 0)

4.     Approval not granted (when more than two criteria in section 1 and/or more than three in section 2 score below 3, or, when there are criteria that score 0)

The recommendations and notes are stated in the end of the review.

6.Technical requirements for manuscripts

The following technical requirements are currently accepted and announced for the Diogenes Series. They are subject to change in which case they will be announced shortly.

7Sharing Policy (Copyright, Re-use, and Public Access)

Copiright

The University of Veliko Turnovo holds the copyright on all works, published in the Diogenes Series. Readers may use the works for educational or other non-profit purposes as long as the content is properly cited and there is reference to the original source. Articles may not be included without the permission of the editors in textbooks that are sold. They may however be used in university courses and other educational activities.

Re-use

Authors can reuse portions of their copyrighted work, for educational or other purposes, if the proper citation and copyright information is given.

Public Access

Diogenes and the Publishing House of Veliko Turnovo University support the efforts for ensuring the open access to scientific information. Each issue of the series is accessible on-line on the series's web site.

A copy of every issue of the Diogenes Series is submitted to the archives of the Bulgarian National Library.

8.Corrections and Retractions

Corrections

Diogenes will publish notices about detected technical or factual errors of articles by the author(s) or the publisher upon written requests by authors. The notices will be printed in the issue coming right after the initial request for error-correction is submitted. The requests sent by authors should clearly cite and describe the reported error(s), and cite the necessary correction(s) to the error(s).They must also state clearly whether the errors originated from the Diogenes editorial or printing house or with the author.

Retractions

Diogenes will consider retracting a publication if there is clear evidence that the work unreliable as a result of misconduct or honest error; if the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission, or justification; if the manuscript makes reference to unethical research;

Authors may retract their work from publishing at any time of the evaluation process and up to 14 days after receiving the written approval for publishing by the editors. After that period, the publishing process does not allow making changes and the copyright conditions do apply.

9.Conflict of Interests and scientific misconduct

Conflict of interests

Manuscripts authored or co-authored by a member of the current Advisory Board or the editors will be decided by an independent “Ad Hoc Editor” (appointed by the Advisory Board). An Ad Hoc Editor will also be assigned manuscripts for which the Editor is required to recuse her/himself due to claimed concerns about potential conflict of interests.

Scientific misconduct

Manuscripts submitted to Diogenes will be uploaded to plagiarism checker software, to scan the document for plagiarized text. Plagiarism is scientific misconduct and will be addressed as such.

Readers may report concerns related to possible misconduct, (unauthorized use of confidential information, improprieties of authorship, falsification of data, deliberate misrepresentation etc.) regarding the publications in Diogenes by e-mail to philos@uni-vt.bg.

10.Questions and Answers

Questions concerning Diogenes’s publication policies or guidelines for submissions must be directed to the editorial office at philos@uni-vt.bg.

By submitting the manuscript for consideration at Diogenes Series the authors declare that they are familiar with and accept the conditions of the Series’s publishing policy and procedures!